Pence weighs in on I-69 land dealings

Governor calls for probe of I-69 buys, is open to talks on open records

Feb. 4, 2013

Troy Woodruff, chief of staff at the Indiana Department of Transportation, owned this 33-acre field with his father and brother before the I-69 project went through Daviess County. The Woodruffs sold a three-acre sliver to the state to build an overpass, then sold the remainder of the land to his uncle and cousins. The two transactions helped Woodruff and his father and brother reap a 83 percent gain on the land they purchased in 2007 for $148,500. / Tim Evans / The Star

Written by

Gov. Mike Pence said Monday that he is willing to discuss whether Indiana should open appraisals and other records that could shed light on the prices the state pays when buying land for highways.

"Governor Pence supports the public's right to know and welcomes discussions about greater transparency in government," his spokeswoman Christy Denault said Monday in an e-mail.

But a bill that would open such records to public inspection appears to be stalled as lawmakers await guidance from the governor.

The governor's statement came in the wake of two Indianapolis Star investigations that showed the Indiana Department of Transportation paid widely varying prices -- and often paid double and triple fair market value -- when acquiring land for the I-69 project in Southern Indiana.

Under state law, the appraisals and other documents used to justify such payments are permanently sealed from public view, which has prompted a number of good government groups, state lawmakers and ethicists to call for a change.

Some states open those records after the sales are complete, but Indiana doesn't, making it nearly impossible for the public to ensure that favoritism and overspending doesn't occur.

Also on Monday, Pence directed the state's ethics policeman to "make certain" to thoroughly investigate the state's purchase of land owned by INDOT Chief of Staff Troy Woodruff and his family. The Star revealed on Sunday that Woodruff did not disclose his own land sale to the state. The Star's investigation also uncovered six land deals that put $1.8 million into the pockets of Woodruff's uncle and cousins, who then bought land from Woodruff and his immediate family for more than market value.

Woodruff has denied any wrongdoing in the sales.

It became clear on Monday that lawmakers are waiting for direction from the governor's office regarding the transparency issue.

Sen. Brent Waltz, R-Greenwood, has authored a government transparency bill he said he would amend to include a provision opening up highway appraisals. But Waltz's bill has stalled in the Senate' Public Policy Committee.

The committee's chairman, Sen. Ron Alting, R-Lafayette, said Monday that Waltz's bill likely won't move ahead any time soon. He said the governor should be the one to decide whether to lay out a comprehensive framework for revising the state's transparency rules.

Alting said once the new governor announces his plans, lawmakers will follow his lead.

"Let's give him a shot," Alting said, "and we'll take it from there."

Waltz said he also wants guidance from the governor.

A Star investigation this fall revealed that state transportation officials offered $7 million for 32 parcels in Greene, Pike, Monroe and Daviess counties that state appraisers had valued at $3.34 million. The state's offers were more than double the fair market value of those parcels.

Waltz said Monday that with so much taxpayer money at stake, "it's very important for the General Assembly to be able to make sure that the public trust is maintained and public funds are accounted for and used wisely."

But Sen. Luke Kenley, R-Noblesville, said that lawmakers would need to balance privacy concerns of unwilling sellers against the call for transparency.

"So you have kind of a contest between disclosure and the people's right to have some confidentiality," said Kenley, the chairman of the budget-writing Senate Appropriations Committee. "I'm sure there are some people who sold their property on I-69 who didn't want to sell it at any price. And then they didn't want to have everybody in the world knowing about it, so they kind of got a double-hit there. You've just got to balance these things out."

Denault, the governor's spokeswoman, said the governor is also mindful of the Woodruff matter.

"At the Governor's direction, our General Counsel contacted the Office of the Inspector General to make certain that the latest allegations are being thoroughly investigated," she wrote in an email.

Inspector General David Thomas couldn't be reached for comment Monday afternoon.

Thomas had investigated Woodruff's sale of three acres in Daviess County to the state and cleared him of wrongdoing, but legal and ethics experts who reviewed the inspector general's report said they were troubled by his legal reasoning and the vigor of his investigation.

When confronted with The Star's findings, the inspector general said he would open a new investigation and refer the case to a prosecutor for an independent evaluation when it was complete.